


If I Die Young

by Missalice1990



Category: Stargate SG-1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-08
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 19:17:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 15,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missalice1990/pseuds/Missalice1990
Summary: Shelly is a young woman at the prime of her life, working hard to make her dreams a reality, but when SG-1 appear at her school, it seems her hard work might not pay off... Set in season seven (No spoilers)This is the first Fic I wrote (A DECADE ago) So... It's not great. But I finished it earlier this year, and it's what got me back into writing (opened the floodgates so to speak). So I felt it was important to post it.





	1. Naming The Rainbow

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 or any of the characters. I Also do not own "If I Die Young" And will NOT be putting all of the lyrics.

Lord make me a rainbow I'll shine down on my mother, she'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors oh and, life ain't always what you think it out to be...  
Chapter One  
"Shelly Allen." Daniel said, walking into the briefing room five minutes late for their 15:00 debriefing.  
"Sorry, what?" O'Niell asked, annoyed by Daniel's lack of information.  
"Oh, right. Sorry guys. I heard Jack asking if anyone had found out who that girl was, well I did. Her name is Shelly Allen, she's twenty one years old, a student at the Winston-Salem College of the Arts-she's A music major-And she works part time as a florist at seventh street flowers, and part time as a barista at Starbucks."  
"Danny Boy."  
"Yes Jack?"  
"How do you know all this?"  
"Ah! Well, she was at the college when the incident happened-obviously-so I was going through the college records, and I actually found her picture on the college web page. Turns out she's the concert master for the college orchestra. It has a short bio for her there; seems she's been playing since she was-"  
"Daniel!" Jack cut him off. "Get to the point."  
"Right, sorry, I looked her up online, found she moved there eighteen months ago from a small town in North Carolina called… uh… Pinnacle… Which isn't too far from Winston-Salem. There's quite a bit about her in the newspaper, seems she got in on a scholarship, really amazing violinist, pianist, vocalist, and composer. I actually managed to find her whole bio; it's all here in these folders." Daniel said, passing the folders out.  
"Wow!" Sam said, reading the information aloud. "Born and raised in rural America, top in her class, been playing since she was seven… Moved to Winston-Salem to follow her dream to someday be a singer/songwriter, and is considering the Air Force after achieving her bachelors with hopes of being in the Air Force Symphony."  
"How does any of this information help us?" Hammond asked, clearly at a loss for why Daniel was passing out folders containing this young girl's live story.  
"Uh, general, sir," Carter started tentatively, "This girl has apparently been rooming with the girl we discovered to be host to the gou'ald Aabit, and while the other students where in fact abducted by Aabit, it seems that Shelly here decided to stowaway on her fancy ship. In fact, she took down one of the Jaffa that was rounding up students, and stole his armor to do so. We tried to stop her, but to no avail."  
Eighteen Months Earlier  
"Mama…. Ma… MA!" Shelly finally shouted at the pudgy woman who froze in the middle of wiping dirt off the girl's cheek with a spit rag. "Leave it, it's just dirt, and I'll take a shower as soon as I get unpacked. You worry too much, I'm gonna be fine! But I really have to go, I start my new job tomorrow at four, and I need to unpack everything once I get there."  
Mrs. Allen gave her daughter a look of pure dread, this is what she had been dreading since the day that Shelly had been born; the day her daughter left the nest. "Okay honey," She said through tears and snot. "Drive safe, be careful. And remember, if you change your mind, your father and I will always be here. We love you honey."  
"I know mama, and I'm not gonna be that far away, it's only Winston-Salem. It's a hop and a skip away. You worry too much! Where is daddy anyways?"  
"Oh, I think he's out working on your car dear, wants to make sure it'll get you all the way there."  
"Ah jeez, It's a half hour drive mama, I'll be fine!"  
"your daddy just wants to make sure everything's in tip top shape, alright honey?"  
Shelly laughed. "Well alright mama, I really ought to go, it's gettin' late." Shelly kissed her mom on the cheek and gave her a quick hug before retreating from the house, only to find her dad standing outside in front of her Jeep, an almost sad look on his face, but he was a proud man, an Air Force veteran, and he wasn't the kind of man to let something like this break his proud shell.  
"You have everything you need Shelly?"  
"Yeah, I pretty well think I have."  
"Alright, well, you need anything, you let me know, you hear me kid? And take this, just in case." He said, handing her a small pistol.  
"Daddy, I highly doubt they're gonna allow me to carry a pistol around the school."  
"Well you pack it low, and hide it somewhere safe in your dorm once you get there. I know you think I'm just being paranoid, but honey I've seen enough of the world to know there are some bad things out there. And besides, this one is registered in your name, and you have the license to own a gun, there ought not to be any problems."  
Shelly smiled at her father, feeling the smoothness of the pistol with her fingers, then reached up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks daddy. You take care of mama you hear me? Don't let her go on worryin' about me. I'm gonna be just fine."  
" I will. I love you baby girl. Now get outta here, before you decide to change your mind and stay another 21 years!" he said with a laugh as she pulled back and jumped into her jeep.  
"I love you too daddy! I'll call you once I'm all settled in." And with that, Shelby Allen pulled off to meet her now roommate, and her new life.


	2. Back To The Beginning

"Aabit; known as the Egyptian Goddess of Music, song, voice and the arts. Not very widely known, and if she is a gou'ald like the Tok'ra claim, then she isn't a typical one. From what I've gathered, she has a simple desire to be surrounded by music, she's not a malevolent god, she just… Enjoys music." Daniel finished his presentation lamely. He was embarrassed, being the expert on ancient Egypt was his title here at the SGC, and he could hardly find anything on this woman.  
"So," Jack said sarcastically, "You're saying that this A Bit lady comes all the way to earth from… wherever the hell she's been hiding, just so she could listen to some live music?"  
"Well-" Daniel started but was then cut off by Jacob.  
"Actually Jack, that's exactly what she's here for. Only more likely the musicians that play this live music."  
"The music's always better?"  
Jacob shot jack a look before continuing on. "The Tok'ra believe that Aabit has been using her keen ear and love of music as a way to keep the more powerful Gou'alds off her back. They think that she's been collecting musicians from across the galaxy to sell as entertainment for the more powerful Gou'alds, and by doing so, she keeps herself well enough under the radar to not be seen as a threat, and high enough on the food chain to not be seen as useless."  
"And you think she's used up her resources on the other planets and has come to take a look around Earth?" Carter asked  
"Actually, we think that Aabit has been coming to Earth since the start. It was only this time that a Tok'ra operative managed to follow her into the Earth's solar system."  
"Now wait!" Jack cut in, "I thought that the Asgard had some surveillance doohickey set up so they could tell when a ship was coming to pay us a visit!"  
"You're right Jack, they do. And that's why our operative returned to base to inform the rest of us what he's seen rather than go after her himself. It seems she has some special sort of cloaking mechanism that allowed her to get through. Now, this makes us incredibly wary about who else may have received this technology, but our operative knew that by approaching the Earth, he would be detected and it would be assumed he was coming to attack you, whereas Aabit remained undetected."  
"Okay well, this information is all well and good, but what can we do about it?" Daniel asked  
"Help us find her."  
"And just how the hell do you expect us to do that Jake!" Jack butted in, irritated. "It's not as if she's gonna be starting some cult like Seth was. No, she's gonna be as inconspicuous as she can."  
"Jack, are you saying we should jest let her take a bunch of innocent people to be sold as slaves?"  
"No Daniel, but I would like a starting point at least! So far, all we know is she's somewhere on earth rounding up a bunch of musicians, and that she doesn't want to get caught!"  
"Actually Jack," Jacob said, returning to the conversation, "Our operative was able to predict a rough estimate of her trajectory. It appears she was headed for America, somewhere on the east coast."  
"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that earlier?"  
"Sir?" Carter cut in, glancing at both General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill, "If I might make a suggestion?"  
"By all means Major." Hammond said  
"Well, if she is looking for musicians, she would obviously want ones who are old enough that they've had time to master their technique, but young enough that they'll have many years of life ahead of them, am I right?" Carter said, looking towards her father.  
"Yes," Jacob responded, "the prime age would be somewhere between eighteen and thirty."  
"Sir, I suggest we check all of the colleges in the east coast, making schools of music our highest priority."  
"She's right George, if Aabit wanted musicians, where else should she go but a music school?" Jacob said.  
"Do it, and let me know when you find something. Dismissed."


	3. Aabit

Shelly walked into her dorm room, trying to muscle her two large duffel bags into submission as her violin case caught the side of the door jam, and she fell flat on top of her duffel bag. God, am I glad I didn't pack my breakables in the duffels she thought casually, as falling was a common thing for her.  
"Oh! Dear, are you okay?" A girl asked, rushing over to help her up. "You must be Shelly! I'm Abby, your new roommate. Here, let me help you with this stuff!" she said, pulling Shelly to her feet, and grabbing the two duffels.  
"Oh! Thank you!" Shelly said, as she took in the girl. Abby was a short girl, maybe 5'3", with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She was lacking one thing, Shelly had noticed; a southern drawl. I wonder where she's from? Shelly thought absent mindedly.  
"Is that everything?" Abby asked, breaking Shelly from her thoughts.  
"Oh… No, I've got a few boxes in the car… you know, bedding, trinkets and the such. I ought to go grab them before someone decides it's a bright idea to break into the old girl and steal them from me!" She laughed, and Abby's eyes widened, as if in shock, then smiled beautifully.  
"I'll help you!"  
"Oh, that's quite alright! I wouldn't wanna be a bother."  
"No bother at all! Simply helping out the new roommate! After all, how else are we gonna make friends in this place?"  
So Shelly let Abby follow her out to her Jeep, taking care to hand her the lighter of the three boxes, lock up, and muscle the other two up the stairs.  
Unpacking was a breeze, Abby helped, and they laughed and got to know each other. Turned out Abby was from a small town in northern California called Portola, though why she decided to come all the way to North Carolina for school, Shelly didn't know.  
And while Shelly was trying to figure out Abby, Abby was doing the same with her: She observed her, and watched how her short reddish brown hair fell into her eyes every time she laughed, how her brown eyes had a tint of orange in them that was brought out by her eyeliner and hair color, and how every time she smiled, laughed, or even looked at her friendly, Abby just felt happy. This girl, Abby thought, She's a muse. I cannot let her get into the wrong hands. Perhaps it would be safer to leave her here at first…  
"Abby?" Shelly said, interrupting her thoughts.  
"Oh! Sorry, I got a little lost in though there, what where you saying?"  
"Oh I was only wonderin' what Abby was short for, is it Abigail then?"  
"No, actually. It's short for Aabit. No one around here knows that though; I legally changed my name to Abby, too much teasing when I was younger. Promise not to tell?"  
Shelly laughed at that, "Well I dunno who would tease ya, Aabit is a lovely name, where's it from? What's it mean?"  
"Well, Aabit sort of sounds a bit like… well, a bit. So, everyone wants a bit, you know?" Abby laughed, and Shelly joined in. "It's the name of an ancient Egyptian goddess actually, my parents were archeologists, and they thought the description of her was awfully nice; She was the Goddess of song."  
"Oh! Parents! I forgot to call my father!" Shelly said, looking distressed, and glancing at the time, then picking up her phone and dialing the number with precision. "Daddy? Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I was talking to my new roommate and I lost all track of time…"


	4. Looking For The Truth

Carter was sitting in her lab, her eyes glued to the screen of her computer, and more than a little glossed over, when someone set a coffee down next to her. She jumped, looking up to see who it was.  
"Carter." Jack said, taking in her tired eyes and disheveled hair. "Would it kill ya to take a break?"  
Carter smiled, "Actually sir, I did take a break. Is that for me?" she gestured to the coffee next to her.  
"On the condition that you come with me to get some breakfast. I hear there's waffles today!"  
"I think I can do that sir." Carter said, giggling.  
"So," Jack started as Carter followed him out of her lab and towards the commissary, hot coffee in her hand. "Have you guys found her yet? It's been months!"  
"Well, we've managed to narrow it down a bit. When we started out, we noticed that there were several music colleges that have had incidents in the past ten years of students going missing."  
"Incidences you say…"  
"Yes sir. Of these colleges, most have had ten to twenty students just disappear from campus."  
"And no one noticed that a good portion of their flock simply disappeared?"  
"Flock sir?" Carter asked, amused.  
"It's a term."  
"Right. Well, they have all notified the parents, and had investigations, but nothing has ever turned up. The students just seem to go missing. There is one name that turns up in each case though; Abby Thomas. And every time her background story is the same; orphaned as a young girl and raised by the system. Thing is, the system doesn't have any record of her ever being in it."  
"Red flag."  
"And something else; the story is always the same; that her parents were archeologists who both died in a tragic accident on a dig somewhere."  
"So?"  
"Well, we're doing extensive background checks on every Abby or Abigail Thomas we can find in all of the music colleges on the east coast."  
"I sense a 'but'."  
"Well, sir, do you know how many Abby Thomas's there are out there?"  
"How many?"  
"A lot."  
"Tell me something Carter, why are you and Jacob so determined about this? I mean, I get that the whole Gou'ald stealing college students being a bad thing, and we definitely want to put a stop to it, but you and Jake, you just seem so... focused."  
Carter stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him, surprised. She hadn't realized how wrapped up she'd been in this, she definitely didn't realize it was bad enough for the colonel to notice. And now here he was, watching her expectantly, waiting for a reply.  
"I guess... It all kind of goes back to when I was a teenager, sir. I never told you this, but I used to have a sister." Jack gave her a shocked look, but allowed her to continue on. "She was between mine and Mark's age, two years older than me. She had just turned eighteen when my mother passed away, though her and my mom were never close, she was always daddy's little girl. But she wanted to be a musician. And she was talented, one of the best cellists in our state, she won several awards, and as soon as she graduated from high school, she went on to a music college in California. A few months after my mom passed away, her and about fifteen of her classmates simply.. disappeared. We tried to look for her, but it was like she just dropped off the face of the planet."  
"And you think it had something to do with this "A Bit" Lady."  
"Maybe.. or maybe it was something different altogether. I honestly don't know. But.. Knowing what it was like to have someone you love simply disappear.. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. And I hope that maybe we can find this Gou'ald soon enough, before she abducts any other innocent people." And with that, Carter started walking again, heading towards the commissary.  
"I'm sorry Carter." Jack said, following her.  
"That was a long time ago, sir. It's not as if we hope to find her, even if it was Aabit that took her, she could be anywhere, even dead by now. And besides, we've.. moved on."


	5. Nightmares

So put on your best boys, and I'll wear my pearls. What I never did is done...

\------

Shelly shot up in her bed, a cold sheen of sweat was covering her body, and as she awoke, she felt herself gasp, and her hand flew to her abdomen.  
This was the third time this week that she'd had the same dream. And as she sat struggling to remember the details, everything continued to swirl away from her accept for the ending, where someone from somewhere in the bright gold room she had been in, shot her. Clear through the abdomen.  
And she knew that gun; it was the standard sidearm of an air force officer. She'd seen it before; shot it a million times growing up, because her dad had one just like it from his time serving with the armed forces. She knew the way the metal felt on your fingers, the smell it left behind after you'd discharged it, the weight of it loaded verses unloaded. Where someone to hand her that gun now, she could tell you the exact number of bullets in it by the mere weight, but ever since this recurring dream started, she couldn't, for the life of her, remember the name of the gun.  
Aggravated, she threw the sheets off herself, and grabbed the jacket next to her bed, slipping on her boots, she slipped outside. She walked up to the railing by the stairs outside of her dorm, and leaned against them as she lit a cigarette, trying hard to get the dream to come back to her.  
But all she could remember was the feeling of adrenalin that pulsed through her veins, the color of the room she had run into, and the look on the face of a blond woman standing in front of her as the bullet ripped through her abdomen. Oh and the pain, she remembered the pain. Every time she woke up, she had to check and see if the hole was there because it felt so damn real.  
"Shelly!" She turned around to see Sharon, one of her choir mates, standing behind her. "What are you doing up at this hour!"  
Shelly looked at her wristwatch and found it to be three in the morning. "Had a bad dream is all. I have to be at work in an hour anyways, so I may as well just get going, and what about you?"  
"Me? Oh, I work at a bakery; I work from ten at night to two thirty every morning. I just hadn't realized anyone else here was as crazy as me!" She laughed.  
"Hasn't anyone told you?" Shelly said, turning her million dollar smile onto Sharon, "We're all musicians here, which means all crazy!"  
Sharon laughed, "Well, I'm gonna head upstairs and go to bed, we have theory at ten after all! And I want to get some shuteye! Goodnight Shelly, see you in class!"  
"Yeah, goodnight." She replied, turning back to the stairs and finishing her cigarette. Then she sighed. Guess I'll head upstairs, have a cup of coffee and get dressed. I've gotta get to work before too late anyways..


	6. Love Me Forever

And I'll be wearin' white, when I come into your kingdom I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger I've, never known the lovin' of a man but it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand…

\------

Shelly was sitting in her favorite practice room, playing the piano. No one ever came into this practice room; it was old, one of the oldest ones in the college. Shelly figured it was probably the first practice room they built here. No one, it seemed, knew about this room, and those that did where superstitious and said it was a cursed practice room. Which brings us to why it was her favorite; it looked, and felt, like something out of the eighteen hundreds, they even had an ancient grand piano in here, one that was tuned every four months along with all the others, but aside from the tuner, Shelly was the only visitor that this piano ever got, and that suit her just fine.  
Shelly signed, and laid her head against the piano. What am I doing here? She thought. I should have stayed back home with mama and daddy. True, this is what I've always wanted, and everyone is friendly to me, but it hurts. My heart hurts, it feels so heavy unless I'm with Jake.  
As if on cue, the door opened, and in walked Jake. Okay, so she wasn't the only visitor, but Jake never really came for the feel of the room, in fact, it frightened him. No, Jake came to see her.  
"Hey," He said, walking over shyly and sitting next to her. "How are you?"  
Looking at him it was like the balloon that had been crushing her heart had simply popped. She always got lost in his blue eyes, but she knew that wasn't good. God, I feel like a teenager with her first crush. This annoyed Shelly, she wasn't used to feeling so confused, and that's what Jake did, he confused her.  
"I'm good, how are you?" She said, smiling at him.  
"Good." And with that, they slipped into silence.  
It was an odd thing, their relationship. It was like they where dating but not really. It was a childish sort of thing, like they were seven years old and they didn't want anyone else to know that they were 'dating.' When they were alone, it was usually fine. They would be shy at first, then warm into each other, get used to it. And Shelly was ready for this to be serious, but when they met in the hallways, he wouldn't even look at her.  
They had been 'dating' since not long after classes started, so about four months now. They had never gone on a date, but sometimes he would slip into her dorm room late at night and curl up with her, or vice versa. They had gone to a movie once, and when they hung out outside of school, everything seemed fine.  
What bothered her more than anything wasn't the fact that, even though everyone already knew they were dating, he acted like they weren't. No, what bothered her was how some days he acted like she was the only girl in the world, while others she felt like she hardly knew him, like he was slipping away from her. But how can someone slip away, when you haven't even really had the time to get to know them?  
And that, that is why her heart hurt so. It had been fine at first; she was living through her days like she had always done before. She never really had a reason to go on, but she never had a reason to die either. She just… was. It wasn't that she didn't feel, she did, sure; she cried when her grandma had passed away, and she was elated when she found out she got into Winston-Salem, and with a scholarship no less!  
But then she met Jake, and it was like a light had switched on. She never even realized she had been walking around in the dark until someone flipped that switch, problem was, she was pretty sure he wasn't planning on sticking around, and every time he walked away from her, the light flickered out, and where before she would have felt fine, happy even, now she felt lost, alone and unwanted. And he didn't even know what he was doing to her.  
"So, what are you working on?" Jake cut through her thoughts, finally having fallen into that usual place that they always had.  
"Nothing really… just.. playing."  
"Just playing?"  
"Yeah."  
"How do you just play?" Jake asked, teasing her now. He was a year younger than her, and an amazing bass player, but playing your feelings was something he was unfamiliar with. He was the type that refused to stray from the classical path.  
"You know, you put your hands on the keys, and just let your feelings come out. It's like, my hands take over; they know what to do, because my soul has already told them."  
"Your soul?" He said, laughing now. Shelly hit him.  
"Stop teasing me!" She grinned, then giggled herself as he leaned in for a kiss.


	7. Familiar Faces

"Oh, Sam! There you are!"  
Carter, Jacob and O'Neill looked up from their lunch to see Daniel standing over their table in the commissary.  
"Hey Daniel, what's up?" She said as he sat down next to Jacob and set his coffee down.  
"Oh, I was just looking through some of the college records, and I managed to find a picture of Abby." Daniel said sifting through the papers he had in his hand. He could be so unorganized at times. "Let's see… I have it here somewhere… Ah! There we go." He said, finally pulling out an eight by ten photo print out of a young woman, and handed it to Sam. "It's funny, she looks really familiar, but I just can't-Sam?"  
Everyone at the table watched as she took the paper, glanced at it once, and paled several shades.  
"Carter?" Jack asked, "What is it?"  
Without saying anything, she abruptly jumped up from her chair, dropping the photo on the table face up, and rushed out of the room. They all watched her go, surprised. Jacob reached over and turned the picture to face him: You could see the recognition and realization dawn on his face, as he too paled a few shades, and Jack rose to see what the picture was.  
He walked around behind Jacob and looked at it over his shoulder; it was a picture of a girl with dark brown hair, and shocking blue eyes. Carters eyes.  
"It's just a girl." He said, but as he said that he noted how the girl looked exactly like a brown haired twenty year old version of Carter, and he thought he might know who it was. That was when Selmac took over.  
"This is a picture of Dalia Carter, Samantha's sister."  
"Sam never told me she had a sister!" Daniel exclaimed, looking shocked. Jack simply turned and followed Carter out of the room.  
He found her in her lab, reading through old police reports on the college's that had lost students. They had descriptions of everyone, but she was only reading through the descriptions of Abby.  
"You okay?" he asked, knowing she was aware of him watching her.  
"Fine sir."  
"What'ca doin'"  
"Trying to figure out how I missed this."  
"Carter… It's not like they're going to have a little cliff note on there saying 'this girl just happens to look exactly like a brown haired version of Samantha Carter." She shot him a look, and he sobered instantly. "Look, you couldn't have known. There's no possible way you could have known! You're a genius Carter, but you aren't telepathic."  
"It's just… I feel like I should have connected the dots. The first recorded incident was the day that Dalia disappeared. Who knows how many other planets she harvested before she decided to try earth, but when she got here, she probably decided she needed a host who knew about the typical college girl, and I should have at least realized that it was a possibility."  
"Sam…" She shot him a look that simply stated 'what?' "You couldn't have known. And you can't blame yourself for not figuring it out sooner. It happens. So what have you found?"  
"She changes her hair and eye color."  
"Sorry?"  
"Every time her hair and eye color is different; her eyes usually switch between green and blue, and her hair goes from blond to dark brown and back again. It confused me a bit at first; I was wondering if maybe there were two different girls given the fact that Gou'alds don't generally change their hair color often, but If she's in my sister, it makes sense. It's a disguising technique; we spent enough time talking about that to know."  
She watched the quizzical look that crossed his face, and explained. "You might have noticed by the picture, but the family resemblance between us was always incredibly uncanny. People used to think we were identical twins because we looked so similar, even though she was two years older than me. So we started using the things that separated us to get people to stop confusing one for the other. Dalia was the one who liked to change her look a lot, so she dyed her hair brown, and sometimes she would wear green contacts just to add that little bit of difference. She's also nine inches shorter than me; I got my dad's height, she got my moms."  
"So you're saying that some of Dalia's personality might be leaking out through Aabit?" Jack said, pronouncing her name right due to the seriousness of their conversation.  
"No. It doesn't really work that way; with a symbiote it's a one way sort of thing; she'll be able to watch every one of Dalia's memories whenever she chooses to, like watching scenes from a movie, but Dalia can only see the memories that Aabit chooses to share with her, and those memories can be either real, or fabricated. In that same sense, Dalia won't be able to control the situation; she can't hide anything for Aabit, and though she can try to cycle through the same memory over and over again, Aabit will have the main control, kind of like being in the pilots seat versus the co-pilots seat; The pilot can lock you out. And Aabit can close the door on Dalia at any time, and simply... block her out."  
"Okay… So why is she changing her hair color?"  
"Because she saw how it worked with me and my sister; It gave people a way to discern between the two of them. She obviously doesn't want to turn up at every college looking like the exact same person who had disappeared a few years earlier, so she'll grow her hair out, wear green contacts and heels, or crop it real short and leave it blond."  
"So a sort of camouflage."  
"In a sense, yes."  
"So how are we gonna find her?"  
"We look through every Abby or Abigail Thomas at every college in the country, looking at one thing; her picture."  
"I'll tell Hammond."


	8. Party and Sing

A loud bang, a sharp sting, and that woman's face... Why is it always Abby watching me die? Shelly mused to herself, resting her chin on her arms over the balcony railing of Kylie's back porch.  
"Shelly?" A voice brought her back to reality.  
"I'm sorry Kylie, what where you saying?"  
"I was just asking if this boyfriend of yours is going to show up."  
"You know he won't Kylie. He seems to think we're bein' all discreet about this and that no one knows."  
Kylie was a classmate, a fellow violin student. Her parents had passed away when she was twelve; they had died in a car accident on their way to a concert. They had left her the house in their will, along with a small fortune, enough to send her to college and keep her financially worry-free for the rest of her life, but she didn't want to touch the money. She used it to pay for school fees that she couldn't afford to pay from her job, which was working at Starbucks with Shelly.  
Most people seemed to think it strange, that someone wouldn't take advantage of such a thing, but Shelly understood; she felt the same when her father had offered to pay for her rent, to send her a monthly food allowance… It was that desperate need to know that you could take care of yourself, and that want to have earned the things that you had.  
"I think he's just being a wuss." Greg piped up from where he was sitting by the door. "You really just ought to dump him. He doesn't want what you want."  
This was how it always was, Kylie had a party every Friday night, she'd always invite Jake, and he would never come, then somehow in the night he would be brought up in conversation just like now, and they would all point out how he wasn't worth her time. She knew they where right, but she didn't want to give up on him just yet.  
"Sure Greg, you're one to talk, you can't get your girlfriend to come either!" Shelly said teasingly as she stuck her tongue out at him,  
Greg was a nice guy, he was the one person who everyone at school seemed to know, and they all knew they could trust him with anything. He would make you feel good about yourself, all the while teasing you and making you laugh. And he was a great friend to have.  
"I told you, she's working. At least she has a valid excuse! What's Jake doing, getting high and serenading birds?"  
At this Shelly laughed "He probably is!"  
Pretty soon everyone was outside, smoking their Marlboros and Camels, while someone started playing a guitar and the crown took turns making up lyrics.  
She had found quite a group here. The best friends she had ever had in her life, and for this, she was glad. But tomorrow was a new day, and one she wasn't sure she was looking forward to. She had been excited at first, when she asked Jake and he'd said yes. But now, he seemed to be growing farther away from her. Something she found to be incredibly confusing, given that they still hardly knew each other well enough for them to grow apart, yet still, it seemed like it was happening.  
Yet today was still today, and while she stood out here on the balcony, surrounded by people she knew, and loved, and trusted, she couldn't help but find herself tapping along with the beat, and before you knew it, the guitar had been handed to her, and it was time she fill the requests slot. This was when everyone wanted to hear her songs.


	9. Home

Every Saturday Shelly went home to see her parents. It was a nice sort of a day, she'd do her laundry, so she wouldn't have to pay to do it at the school, then her daddy would go for a nice ride down by the creek, do a little huntin' –for what was in season of course- And then she'd go help mama with dinner, being sure to make a nice cherry pie for desert as it was her parents favorite.  
But this time her brother was in town, and his favorite was mama's blackberry cobbler. And Jake was with her. Feeling it best to keep Jake from her dad and a shotgun, she figured she's take him for a hike, then spend the day in the kitchen with mama, she'd been meaning to bake a few things to take back with her anyways.  
Jake was stoically quite as they drove through Winston-Salem, and onto the 52. In fact, he hardly said anything the entire way. At first Shelly tried to get him to talk, asked him how classes where, and how his parents where. Then she just gave up, turned on the radio and started singing along.  
Finally Jake snapped out of it, about ten minutes before they got there.  
"So, where is this place anyways? I feel like you're taking me out into the woods to murder me." He teased, and Shelly giggled.  
"Oh yes, come with me to go for a hike in the woods. It's harmless, I promise." Shelly rebounded. "It's about ten minutes ahead; my parents own about a thousand acres, so we have to take a bit of a drive to get to the house, but it's not too bad."  
"A thousand… acres… So when you said hike?"  
Shelly laughed. "Don't worry, I won't let no cougars get ya, I've got my pistol with me. Always have it, didn't you know? The school even lets me carry it with me on campus; they figure I'd probably be safer walkin' around at night if I had some self protection."  
"You carry a pistol with you!"  
"Well, it's only for my own protection. And I know how to use it; I been shootin' since I could walk."  
"Well I just… It just surprises me is all; I never knew that about you."  
"There's a lot of stuff you know about me Jake." Shelly said, sobering up a bit. "Oh and here we are!" She lightened back up, turning onto a dirt road surrounded by dogwood trees and tobacco fields.  
"Your parents grow tobacco?"  
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Well, really it was something that my grandparents and their parents where doing, it was how they made a living. This is my mama's family's property, she grew up here. My great aunts and uncles used to each have their own house on a part of the property; a lot of them are still there-the houses that is, me and my brother Henry look after them to make sure they don't get overtaken by the wild life. We even have our houses picked out! Know which one's we'll be movin' into once we come home from college."  
"Are they all real close together?"  
"Heavens no, they're all several miles apart. Once you get to the mail house, you see several roads going off into different directions. It makes the shape of a horse shoe around the main house. There's a road that goes around as well, so someone can drive from one house to the other without having to come all the way back to the main house."  
"Sounds like a cult."  
"More like a fortress." She laughed. "We also have tunnels going to each house." She watched his eyes widen, and his eyebrows meet his hairline. "It was a sort of precautionary thing, you know, in case something happened, and they couldn't leave the house or the basement, you know, bomb shelters and such. They were very prepared."  
"Sounds like it. And they grew tobacco?"  
"Yep."  
"Well, what do they do now?"  
"My mama stays at home, she raised us kids, and taught us to cook and clean and look after each other, and my daddy is a carpenter. He's really an all around handyman, but he mostly designs and builds houses. He under charges people, but it pays the bills, and keeps us out of debt, so that's really all that matters. And here we are!" Shelly pulled her Jeep up next to the front door and hopped out, smiled back at Jake and headed straight for the door, yelling behind her teasingly as she walked "I ain't waitin' for ya!" So he jumped out and rushed to her side, walking next to her towards the house.  
She grabbed the tattered old screen door, and it squeaked in protest as she swung it open, they walked in, and there was her mom, standing in the kitchen wearing an apron that was covered in flour, holding a knife in one hand, and a cat, by the scruff of the neck, in the other.  
"My baby girl's home!" She squawked; dropping the cat onto the floor, and tossing the knife onto the table, letting it hit with a clatter as she rushed over to hug her baby. "And who is this young man? You must be Jake, she's told me so much about you! Well, okay, no she hasn't, but I wish she had!"  
"Mama you're gonna scare the poor fool. And what where you doin' with Jenkers? Why, if I hadn't known better I woulda thought you were gettin' ready to skin him for stew!"  
"Oh that cat, he always shoves his face into other peoples business! I was tryin' to make some zucchini bread, see, and he just hops up and puts his paws all up in the dough! It's a good thing I hadn't put the zucchini in yet, why I was only just gettin' ready to chop it up when the cat jumped in there, but this is the last bit of zucchini I have left, So it would have completely ruined my planes if I'd have mixed it in already!"  
"Is Henry here yet? I wanted to take Jake to the waterfall."  
"Oh he was here just a few minutes ago, I think he might be in the shed with your daddy. They're workin' on that old car again, always tryin' to get it to run."  
"Well they better get it runnin' by my birthday, I've been waiting for that to show up with a big bow on it for three years now!"  
Mrs. Allen laughed, and then turned around only to find the cat back in her dough. Frustrated, she started to shoo it out of the kitchen with an old hand towel, and as Shelly giggled, she reached down and grabbed Jake's hand, and lead him out of the kitchen.  
"Come on, I wanna show you the duchess." She said, pulling him through the door.


	10. Family Time

Shelly led Jake out into the shed, and laughed as his jaw dropped at the sight of the beautiful green '57 Chevy Chevelle SS Convertible that her brother and father where working on.  
"Shelly!" Her brother Henry exclaimed, hearing his sisters laugh from under the car. "When did you get here!"  
"Oh, about ten minutes ago." She responded as her dad came and gave her a hug, then shook Jakes hand. "Say Henry, I wanted to take Jake to the waterfall, but it's a pretty long hike, so I was thinkin' on takin' the horses. But I was wonderin', do you think the trail's washed out? Cause if I need to take the bridge, I'm gonna need to borrow your key for the horse gate; I seem to have lost mine in the wash right before school started."  
Henry rolled out from under the car, covered in grease and dirt, and reached into the pocket of his cover-alls. "Yeah, I went up there just this mornin', the trails completely washed out; the water's even almost to the bridge! Here's the key, but you better bring it back to me! If you've lost yours, then that's the only copy, and I'll be needin' to make a few more."  
"Alright, we'll be careful."  
"You be back in time for supper, you hear Shelly? I don't want your mama complaining about your food getting' cold." Mr. Allen said as he headed towards the tool box.  
"Oh no problem there, we're just gonna take a quick ride out and back, I'll be back in plenty of time to help mama with supper."  
They rode for about an hour, getting to the waterfall around noon. And it was a sight to see; it wasn't that there was a large enough hill to make this kind of thing, it was mostly pretty flat on their property, but this one spot, the river flowed right over top of a massive rock face, one that dipped down into a sort of ravine. Where they were standing was just above the top of the river, at the end of a trail carved down into the ravine so you could look up at the waterfall, but what was so entrancing about this waterfall where the crystals.  
There were hundreds of them scattered throughout the rock face, and the light that shone on the water was reflected into the crystals, which reflected them back, causing the effect of thousands of tiny rainbows that could be seen coming off the rock face.  
They rode back slowly, talking about everything under the sun, and arrived back at the main house around two. Shelly helped with supper, and then they all ate, and talked about life, school, work and friends. Then next thing they knew, they were back at the college, saying their goodbyes outside of Shelly's dorm room.  
When Shelly walked in she say a peculiar thing; Abby, standing with her back to the door, and whispering into her hand.  
"You conspiring with your comrades over there?" Shelly asked teasingly. Abby froze for a second, then shoved something in her pocket and turned around grinning.  
"Sure thing. Got plans to destroy the school, it's gonna be epic! People will see it from miles away!" Abby said jokingly, and laughed.  
Shelly giggled. "What were you doin' over there anyways?"  
"Oh I was just making myself a few notes on homework. I find hearing my own voice repeating the notes is far more helpful than simply reading them. How was your family day?"  
"It was good! I brought some bread back. We've got banana apple bread, lemon blueberry bread, and-drum roll please-my all famous garlic cheddar bread!" Shelly smiled, pulling the three loafs from the paper bag she had set down on their little table.  
"Oh yum!"


	11. Narrowing The Field

"Yes!" Carter exclaimed, sitting in her lab, her laptop opened in front of her. She clicked print, and jumped up, rushing to grab the printed information, and almost ran into Colonel O'Neill.  
"Woah there Carter!" He said, jumping back and almost spilling the two cups of coffee he'd had.  
He had been spending a lot of time in Carter's lab lately, doing the best he could to help her go through all the colleges and try to find Aabit.  
"Sorry Sir!"  
"What's the rush Carter?" He said, setting the coffees down on her desk, and following her to the printer, looking over her shoulder to see what she was reading.  
"I think I've found a bit of a pattern in Aabit's movements! Look here, the first recorded one-where my sister was taken-that was in southern California right?" She gestured at the California section of a small printed map of the United States. "Well, the next one, several years later, was in Maine."  
"O…kay. So what does it mean?"  
"She's been going state to state, across the country. As far as she can get from one side of the country to the other, never having hit one state once, and her options are narrowing down. In fact, all of her remaining options are relatively close together."  
"So what's left?"  
"…there's about eight of them."  
"Carter?"  
She licked her lips and swallowed, hating to have to guess. "With the trajectory of her flight path, and the location of her most recent activity, she should be somewhere in the south eastern corner of the country, somewhere within a region that hits Texas, Florida and New Jersey, But after knocking off some-"  
"Carter!"  
She sighed. "She should be somewhere within this region sir," She said, circling West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  
"There ya go! That's all you had to say Carter. And hey, what did I tell you? I knew you'd get it. We're narrowing down the playing field."  
"Why do you think she's waiting so long?" she asked, as she took the coffee O'Neill was offering her.  
"Hmm?"  
"Why do you think she hasn't taken them yet? I mean, she's been here for months. And we haven't heard anything."  
"Maybe she knows we're onto her. She's tryin' to lay low."  
"But if she knew we were onto her, don't you think she'd try and get out as quickly as she could?"  
O'Neill looked at her, realizing Carter was right, and as they looked at each other, a though hit them at the same time: "The Tok'ra." They said in unison.  
It took them a little while to find Jacob, and when they told him what they thought, he seemed dubious.  
"So you're saying that you guys think she's waiting cuz she's scared of us?"  
"It only makes sense dad; she's been hiding ever since she got to earth. If she wasn't afraid of something, don't you think she would have left already?"  
"It is something to consider, yes, but the fact is Sam that she likes to take her time with this sort of stuff, she wants to make sure she picks the good ones. The best of the best Sammy, that's what she's after. And she's lucky its musicians and not scientists she's after, cuz she's have one hell of a time dealing with you two." He said looking between Carter and O'Neill.  
"But dad-"  
"No buts Sam. It's not my decision. They're leaving tomorrow, and that's that. There's nothing they can do here. To'Kar has been scanning the planet for months now, and he hasn't found even the slightest hint of her ship. She's got it well cloaked. And if she is waiting for the Tok'ra to leave, then maybe this is for the best; we can watch and wait for her to make her move."  
"Just give us two more weeks, that's all I ask!" Sam begged. "Just two weeks."  
"Jake, you know she's not gonna give in." O'Neill pointed out, as Jacob simply glared at him.  
"To more weeks, then they're free?" Sam nodded, and Jacob sighed. "I'll see what I can do."  
"Thank you dad!" Sam said, then turned and bounded back to her lab.  
"That girl…"  
"Give her a break Jacob. She's only just got over the fact that her sister happens to be host to the Gou'ald we're hunting. And she wants to make sure Aabit doesn't get away with this again."  
"You just keep helping her Jack. She focuses better with you there. Why, I have no idea, you seem like you'd be distracting as hell, but you focus her, and that's what she needs right now. Focus."  
"I'm on it Jake. And thanks, Carter needed this."  
"You know what I want to know?"  
"What's that Jake?"  
"Why America? Why not any other country?"  
"...I don't know Jake. Maybe one day we'll find out."


	12. Don't Tell Me Goodbye

It had been about six months since the trip to Pinnacle, and exactly nine weeks ago, Jake had broken up with her-if you could call it that. He'd been acting so strange lately, like he wasn't interested in her anymore, so she called him on it. Said that if he'd lost interest then he had to let her know, because the longer he waited, the more it would hurt. And he apologized; said that he wanted out, 'but could we still be friends?' One of those things you hate to hear, because it means that he expects you to sit by and smile as he starts dating other girls. Yet you always respond with the simple 'of course' and a fake smile, only hoping that you make it to your safe place fast enough that no one sees you cry.  
And of course, that was where she was now; in her safe place-her haunted practice room. And there was no one foolish enough to follow her in here. Sometimes though, she thought she could hear him opening the door and coming in. This was her place, but it was also their place, so sometimes, it hurt to be in here.  
"For Christ's sake! It's been over a two months, why can't I just get over it already!" She spat angrily at the empty room. She was curled in a ball on the floor, up against the wall under the large window that was in all the practice rooms. She was crying. And she was tired of it.  
She heard the door open, but this time she knew she wasn't hearing things, because she saw the light flood in from the hallway. Her heart skipped a beat, knowing there was only one person who would ever come in this room looking for her. But as the person in question walked towards her, she saw them from the light in the window, and knew that she was wrong. She watched Abby cross the room, not seeing her, and thought about saying something, when suddenly Abby lifted up a pistol, aimed it right at her, and shot. There was a bang, and Shelly flinched, the vision faded away, and the girl she just imagined to be Abby, was standing in front of her, looking at her worriedly. Not Abby at all, nor Jake. Instead it was Kylie.  
She walked over and folded up next to Shelly, as she wondered just how far past crazy she had gone, now she was having downright hallucinations. She was imagining things. Her dreams had started seeping into reality, and that scared her.  
"I know you're not okay." Kylie stated softly. "And that's fine, it happens. You fall in love, and you get your heart broken. But you need to stop hiding your feelings from your friends, hiding yourself from us. We're here and we want to help you, if you'd just let us in. We know you're a proud person. And to show someone how torn up you are right now, is something that goes against your nature. But you can show me. You know I won't judge you, and even the girl everyone goes to with their problems needs someone they can do the same with. Especially someone like that actually." Kylie finished her speech, and then looked at Shelly to see if she had been receptive at all.  
Shelly met her eyes, the emotions bubbling over, and lost control. At first she simply cried, balled up in Kylie's arms, seeking the comfort she was known to give so many others. Then she spoke.  
"I think I'm losing it Kylie. I'm starting to hear things, see things. I don't understand it."  
"Grief affects people in different ways honey, maybe this is just your way; to get lost in a fantasy, or a memory. We all confuse our dreams with reality sometimes."  
"It just hurts so much. I never thought it would feel this way. Never thought he would leave me… Not like this. A year Kylie: That's how much time I gave to him; a year. And-I think the worst part is that he never meant to hurt me. I don't think he even realizes it now. And he's a good person, he just wasn't ready, and I pushed him. But I miss him so much, and I never wanted it to end."  
Shelly cried, and Kylie comforted her, they sat like this for a good hour. But it was nearing ten, and the girls both had to open the next morning, so they gathered their things, and Shelly told Kylie she could stay with her in the dorm that night.  
"Abby won't mind?"  
"Abby spends every weekend off campus. I don't know where she goes; I asked her once, but she said the moon, so I just figured that was her way of saying it's not my business. Say… How did you know where I was?"  
"Oh… Well, Jake told me." Shelly looked at her shocked. "He happened to be there when I asked Greg if he'd seen you. He said you always spend most of your free time in here, that you liked it because it was the one place no one else would ever go, because they either didn't know about it, or where scared of it."  
"He was right. And I'm surprised he remembers me telling him that… You know, it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to see him every day on campus. He always acts the same towards me. It's like nothing has changed, but it's also like everything has changed. I don't understand him!"  
"He's the king of mixed signals, and she's the queen of second guesses." Kylie mused.  
"Sorry?"  
"It's a quote an old friend used to say in these situations, I don't remember who said it originally, but I think it describes this perfectly. He's always giving you mixed signals, leaving you feeling confused-probably because he's confused himself. And you're always second guessing his meanings and yourself, probably because he's not even sure what he means, and he's not sure what you mean to him. Give it time, and you'll both grow through this, maybe it will be that you two grow apart, or maybe you'll grow closer together. I don't know, but only time will tell."  
"Time… Do you ever feel like your time is almost up?"  
"What, you mean like dying?"  
"Maybe… I don't know… I just get this feeling sometimes, like… something is coming, some sort of change. It's in the wind; I can feel it. I just don't know what it is, and I don't think it's a good thing, but I also don't think it's a bad thing: Like it's the best thing that could happen, yet in the worst possible way."  
"I think you think too much you silly girl." Kylie said, laughing nervously and nudging Shelly with her arm. "Seriously though, I'm sure everything's going to be fine, you'll see; time heals everything."


	13. Airplanes

Could we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now…  
\--- Shelly stood on the top of the stairs outside her dorm building, looking up at the sky and watching an airplane as it flew past. She closed her eyes and wished. It was a childish wish, and she knew that. It had been four months since the break up, and she still wasn't over it. She just wanted him back. And mama had always said, wishing on planes was sometimes better luck than wishing on a shooting star. So she closed her eyes and tried to believe.  
It was strange though, thinking back. She remembered her childhood sweetheart, oh how they planned. They had been planning their wedding since she was eight years old, then when he turned eighteen, and she was seventeen, he moved on to go to college, he told her he'd come back for her. Letters came and went, and from each of them, they became fewer and fewer, until finally someone never responded. This was all over the span of two years though, and as she felt them growing apart, she mourned it partly, yet another part of her had already moved on.  
With this relationship, she couldn't help but feel like maybe there was something more she could have done. It had all felt so real and permanent, that she couldn't really imagine herself without him by her side. I guess we'll never know she thought, glancing at the retreating airplane lights one last time before she headed back into her dorm. I really thought he meant it when he told me he loved me…  
Meanwhile, on that retreating airplane, Aabit sat tinkering with controls, cloaking her cargo ship so that, to any eye, it would simply look like an airplane in the night's sky. It used far less energy to do it this way, and made the ship, in fact, more difficult to track, simply because of the fact that no one would know what to look for.  
She laughed to herself thinking of this. You'd think someone would have figured this out by now! She thought. Why, even the Asgard can't track me, it's ingenious, and no one else would have even considered it.  
Because no one else had me her host rebutted.  
True, that no one had you, and true your memories have been very helpful to me, but I figured you would have learned by now, that no amount of effort on your part can stop me.  
And yet, still you talk to me; humor me by involving me in your decisions, even ask me for advice sometimes.  
Which you never give!  
And you can just take everything you need anyways, so why involve me at all?  
"You amuse me." She said aloud to the near empty cargo ship.  
"Lady Aabit?" her loyal escort questioned, though not expecting a response; her crew was used to this by now.  
"Nothing Ka'eal, just mumbling is all."  
"Yes ma'am."  
Well maybe I'll just leave you to be alone then, because clearly my other tactic didn't work.  
You'd get lonely. Silence Dalia? Nothing. Well forget you then.  
"My lady? We are here." Ka'eal said, as Aabit sat staring at the walls of the inside of her mother ship.  
"Yes, I know Ka'eal. Thank you. Go gather the troops for me please? It's time we begin the planning."


	14. Stumbling Onto The Truth

"I found her!" Sam exclaimed, causing Daniel and O'Neill to look up from their pages of student records collected from colleges all over the east coast. Sensing that they were waiting for an explanation, she continues on, as they both moved to stand beside her. "I've been looking through all of the student ID's that were acquired around the time that Aabit flew onto the east coast. It was a long shot, given the fact that very few colleges actually keep the photo part of the students ID on file, but I figured-"  
"Carter!" O'Neill interrupted her. "Did you find her, or not?"  
Sam got that light in her eyes, the one that she only gets when she knows that she's got it completely right this time. "Yes, yes sir, I found her. She's at the Winston-Salem College of Music, enrolled under the name of Abby Lawrence. She's been there for about eighteen months, right about when Aabit landed her ship on the east coast, and-" Sam turned her computer screen for them both to see. "This, sir, is a photo of my sister, Dalia Carter. Her eyes are green in this picture, but that doesn't really matter. It's her, I'm sure of it."

Shelly danced across the floor behind the back counter of the Starbucks where she worked in Winston-Salem, singing along to P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" and using a whipped cream can as a microphone, while Kylie beet boxed the background music across from her, and their manager, Lauren, simply laughed in the corner.  
It was a Monday morning, about 8:20AM, and they had all three been there since 4AM, the opening shift could be hell on Mondays like this, it was completely dead. But they didn't mind, because they always found some way to entertain themselves. But today was incredibly dead, they hadn't had a single customer all day, which was incredibly unusual for a Monday, usually they had a mass of people from 6 to 7:30, and a few stragglers would come in after that until 10.  
So today they took the opportunity to crank up the music, sing real loud and dance through the shop. It wasn't that they were slacking off; it was that they didn't have anything to do. Literally; they were the three most efficient employees in that location, probably why they were always given morning shifts together, and they had finished everything before they even opened the shop.  
Today, Shelly and Kylie were supposed to get off at 10AM, while two other employees were scheduled to come in at 8:30 so they could take breaks and have some extra coverage to help with cleaning and such, Lauren would be relieved at 12:30, and replaced by the closing manager. But right now, the next shift was arriving, everything was done, and Shelly and Kylie finished their serenade, collapsing into chairs laughing.  
Shelly hadn't really gotten much better since the breakup, but when she was working, or studying, she somehow would manage to forget, and feel more herself once again. It was then though, that their manager spoke up.  
"Okay ladies, it's dead. Now that Jenna and Kate are here, why don't you guys just head home?" Lauren said, moving from where she had been sitting.  
"Oh, I'm hurt Laurel," Kylie said teasingly, "I see how it is, you'd rather have the Brady twins over here than Shelly and I."  
"Well, you know how much I love their braids." She replied, winking at the girls that had just walked in, having been given that title because of the fact that they were the two girls who always had their hair done up in a series of elaborate French braids. "Go girls, I've bored you for long enough! Now it's time for me to bore the Brady's."  
"Thanks Laurel." Shelly said politely, smiling, but not happy about getting off early. And as they walked out the door Kylie turned to her.  
"So, we've got four and a half hours before class starts, what do you wanna do!"  
"Honestly, I think I'm just gonna head back to the college and get some practice time in, maybe finish some homework."  
"Come on Shelly, you've been doing nothing but studying and working for months! It's time for a girls day. OH! I know, let's skip class and get manicures!"  
"You know I can't do that Kylie." Shelly said, smiling, somewhat tempted.  
"Oh well alright, but you have to work on our song with me."  
"That I can do!" She laughed, and they headed back to Shelly's car, having carpooled over from the college.

Shelly pulled into the parking lot, but something seemed strange, there wasn't the usual buzz around the school that came with the 9AM class rush. A lot of people should have been in class, yes, but there were always people that were running late. It was simply a given.  
"That's odd." Kylie said, voicing Shelly's thoughts. "I wonder where everyone is?"  
"I don't know… I'm gonna go look around, why don't you go ahead and head to the practice room, I'll meet you there." Shelly said, pulling out her pistol.  
"Shelly, you don't have to act so paranoid, it's probably just an odd day… come to think of it, isn't it a holiday?"  
"No, you're thinking next Monday Kylie. I'm not paranoid, I'm just gonna take a quick look around. I'll meet you up there, 'kay?"  
"Alright, but don't go shooting no innocent student's, okay Shelly?"  
"Yeah, no problem."


	15. Snap Decisions

Shelly wandered through the campus cautiously, it was uncharacteristically deserted for this time of day, but she heard a commotion up ahead, so she slowed down and peeked around the corner. She saw Abby, standing in the middle of the small courtyard, wearing some sort of strange outfit made up of black and red leather, the top piece looking somewhat like a skin tight tank top that ended just below her rib cage, and the bottom a skirt, that hugged her hips and was longer on one side than the other, but the outfit wasn't what caught her attention, no, what caught her attention were what looked like men clad in some sort of metal armor with helmets that covered their entire head and face, and looked to be a replica of some sort of animal.  
What's more, Abby was speaking to them, and her voice was tinny, and the strange armored men were surrounding about twenty of her classmates, the best musicians in the school, save Kylie and herself. And Abby seemed to be in charge.  
Shelly backed around the corner, trying to figure out how to solve this problem, when she heard one of the armored men walking towards her. She snuck around behind him, and saw that he was holding some sort of staff to a girls back. A girl she recognized, the girl she had just left not five minutes earlier: He had Kylie. And she looked utterly terrified, and Shelly knew what she had to do.  
She raised her pistol, and with precise aim, shot the man in the stomach. He fell to the ground, and she rushed over, hoping to god that no one had heard her gun, counting on the commotion the others were making to drown out the sound for the rest of the soldiers.  
Kylie looked up, resisting the urge to scream, as Shelly rushed over to her.  
"He came out of nowhere! I was headed towards the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat before meeting you in the practice room, and he just came up and stuck that think in my back. Told me not to scream or he'd kill me. What's going on!"  
"I don't know, but I have to get into his outfit."  
"What!" Kylie looked utterly terrified.  
"Look, there's a whole bunch of these guys over in the courtyard with Abby, holding about twenty of our classmates hostage. I have to get closer to find out what's going on."  
"Alright then, I'll help you."  
"You will?"  
"Yeah, let's get you into that thing, and you can pretend you're him. Take me; it should make it easier to get you in there."  
Shelly looked at Kylie gratefully, and they started undressing the armored man.

"Alright, we go in, get her and get out. We don't want an incident here, so let's make it as easy as we can." O'Neill said to the rest of his team, accompanied by Jacob.  
"Yes sir." Carter replied. Finding herself, once more, the only one who had acknowledged him.  
"One thing Jack," Jacob said, cutting in. "No shooting up the place, that's my little girl in there, and though she may be possessed by a gou'ald right now, we want to get her back in one piece."  
"Look Jake, we're gonna do everything we can to get her back in one piece, that's why we want it to go smoothly. Alright, let's go find her."  
They moved through the campus cautiously, heading towards the dormitories, having already gathered the intel that she didn't have class until lunch time, they figured they could find her there. O'Neill rounded one bend and sprung back, using hand motions to tell his team to wait.  
Glancing back around the corner, he saw something he dreaded; they were too late. There was a group of young adults, looking terrified out of their minds, completely surrounded by Jaffa, that were obviously being led by a woman who looked nearly identical to Carter, save the hair and age. Then he saw something that surprised him; a young woman taking down a Jaffa not far from where they stood, then another girl coming to help her remove his armor; they were going after Aabit.  
Thanking god that none of the enemy had heard the gunshot, O'Neill gave some hand gestures, showing his team what he saw, and Carter moved to try and stop the girl, but she was too late; Aabit had seen them.

Shelly stepped into the mans armor, feeling more than a little like a child climbing into her mothers shoes, then picked up his weapon and headed towards the group. Abby saw her quickly, and looked up with a strangely sinister smile on her face.  
"Good, you found Kylie." Abby said in a strange tinned voice that sounded almost disembodied.  
Shelly didn't say anything, just pushed Kylie into the circle where the rest of her friends where being held, looking utterly terrified.  
"That's everyone then, I suppose it's time to go." Abby smiled again, and then motioned for the men to move closer. They crowded everyone in tightly, Shelly following suit, hoping to look natural, and feeling somewhat claustrophobic as she tried to see out of the tall mans uniform. Then suddenly, there was a bright light, and everything was different. They were now standing in the strangest room she'd ever seen, and she started to feel a bit nauseous as she realized this room looked familiar to her.

O'Neill motioned for them to move, there was, it seemed, no choice; they had to act now.  
"Okay, no one hurt Aabit, take her down with a zat if you have to, but be careful not to hurt her or any of the hostages. Carter, you're with me. Daniel, Teal'c, you move around the other side, and Jake, you be ready to move in and get those hostages out of there as quickly as possible."  
They all nodded, and turned to follow the orders that they had been given, but before they could make even the slightest move, there was a bright blue flash of light, and they were gone.  
"Damnit to hell!" O'Neill exclaimed, staring at the empty space where the group had been standing mere moments before.

"If god's the game that you're playin', well we must get more acquainted, because it has to be so lonely, to be the only one who's holy. It's just my humble opinion, but it's one that I believe in; you don't deserve a point of view, if the only thing you see is you."


	16. Playing God

"If god's the game that you're playin', well we must get more acquainted, because it has to be so lonely, to be the only one who's holy. It's just my humble opinion, but it's one that I believe in; you don't deserve a point of view, if the only thing you see is you." 

Shelly looked around her, focusing on the group of her classmates, noting to herself who all had been taken, so as not to forget anyone. There where quite a few familiar faces, people whose names she did not know, but among the group where also those she did know-Kylie of course, but also some of her other friends, she noted the names as she looked through the faces; Shiloh, Hailey, Jeff, Greg, his girlfriend Emma, and – her heart sank – Jake.  
She looked back at Abby. Took in her outfit one more time, and wondered what was going on. She seems to be in charge. But where is she taking us, and why? Shelly thought, just as Abby moved to stand in front of what looked to be a golden throne slightly above them, her posture setting an edge of arrogance. Then she opened her mouth to speak, and again, the strange tinny sound came through.  
"I am your goddess Aabit. You would do well to heed my advice; do not resist, or you shall be killed. And where we any other god, we would to far worse than that. You will be auctioned off, and when you are, you will follow the commands of your god willingly, and lovingly, for they can do far worse things to you than your feeble minds could ever imagine. Jaffa kree!" at this all of the men in armor – Jaffa she assumed – stood at attention, then she rambled some words in a strange language, and the men turned and started to march her friends out of the room. Shelly reacted accordingly and marched along side them.  
Jake found himself lost; he had never been in a situation like this, it had never crossed his mind that it could ever turn up, and he kicked himself for laughing at Shelly for carrying a gun with her, all this time, he should have realized she was right.  
And now here he was, sitting in a strange gold room full of his classmates, inside what appeared to be a giant gold cage with armed guards standing in front of it. The other guards, it seemed, had other things to do, for once they had gotten here, two guards stood in front of the cage, and the rest filed out of the room.  
"Jake!" he looked up to see Shelly's friend Kylie in front of him. Looks like she got caught as well… odd, I thought her and Shelly always worked Monday mornings together… She souldn't have been anywhere near the school. Well at least it looks like they didn't get Shelly…  
"Kylie… How did they get you? I thought you where at work…"  
"Good, you're calm. God I don't know how many people are freaking out right now, Shiloh looks like she's about to have a mental break, and Jeff hasn't stopped crying since we got here. Imagine that! Jeff crying!"  
"That is an oddity… So, are you thinking on finding a way out of here? 'cause I don't see any hope… we're pretty screwed. You never answered me; how did they get you?"  
"Hmm? Oh, I let myself be caught."  
"What!"  
"Oh, relax; it was Shelly that caught me anyways."  
"WHAT!" The three people closest to them turned to look at him, startled.  
"Be quiet!" Kylie whispered. "It's not exactly like we have privacy here."  
"Explain." Jake said, tight lipped and angry.  
"Shelly and I got off work early and saw what was happening. Well I actually got caught, but Shelly shot the guy who was kidnapping me, then she climbed into his armor and we joined up with you guys."  
"And you thought this was a bright idea because?"  
"Look, just go with it. Shelly is gonna find a way in here and get us out. Then we're gonna get the hell out of here."  
"You realize we're on a ship right? Like a no joke, real life alien space ship."  
"Oh, is THAT why all we could see through the window where stars?" Kylie said sarcastically. "Look, I'm not gonna lie, I never liked you to begin with, and I know you don't like me, but the fact of the matter is that we all need to work together. Now, there's twenty of us, and only two of them-"  
"In this room." Jake interrupted. "There's god knows how many more out there."  
Kylie shot him a dark look. "All we need is to gain control of this room to begin with, and then we'll at least have some sort of strong hold. We can figure on what to do next when we get there."  
Aabit sat in the throne room watching the stars go by, relaxing as her servants waited on her.  
She'll find you, you know.  
Who will find me Dalia? That clueless sister of yours? God you've been going on about her ever since you found out about this "SG-1." How many times do I have to tell you? No one is going to save you.  
You've stolen from her home turf; America, and even made a bit of a scene this time. She will come.  
You're a foolish romantic Dalia. No prince is going to come riding in on a white horse and save you, and certainly no star hopping technical consultant.  
You know what I think? I think you're tempting fate. You're playing god, and god doesn't like it when people pretend to be him; she's going to come. Riding in on his wings, like an angel, and she's going to stop you. You think I don't know what you're made of? Please Aabit, I've been in your head for years now. You think it's all just a joy ride, and it gives you a thrill to be chased, but this time, you aren't going to get away.  
We shall see my dear Dalia, but when I kill your sister with your hands, who will have the last laugh then?  
They where all at the briefing table now, thinking over what Sam had just said about Shelly when Jacob walked in.  
"Dad, where have you been?" Sam asked, having been worried about him since the beginning of the briefing.  
"Sorry guys, I got a call from the Tok'ra, they've found her ship, it's orbiting around a planet not far from a planet we have an operative on. They have a ship, and they're willing to get us to Aabit's ship. That is, of course, if George is willing to let us all go."  
Everyone in the room looked at him, already knowing his answer, but waiting for the approval.  
"You have a go people, bring those kids back safe. And Jacob-I realize that there may be some personal attachment here for both you and Major Carter, but-"  
"No need to worry George, we'll do what we have to."


	17. Deja-Vu

Shelly had slipped away from the group of Jaffa silently, and once she was sure she hadn't been followed, she slipped out of her armor.  
God damn. I'm going to die today.  
Shelly had never put too much stock into dreams, even recurring ones. Her mom always said that dreams have meanings but she rolled her eyes. Now she wished she'd been paying attention. What Shelly did put stock into was gut feelings. She had a gut feeling ever since meeting Abby that something was coming, but she ignored it.  
Well, if I can get my friends out before I die, then at least it won't be for nothing.  
Only problem was, shelly was turned around. Everything looked identical in this place.  
"I could really use a map." she mumbled as she began sneaking through the passages.  
"So what's the plan?" O'neill asked as they stood in the cargo hold of a Tok'ra ship.  
"We are going to transport onto the ship." Selmac said, matter of factly.  
"And if there are Jaffa in the room?"  
"We have to hope we can take them by surprise." Jacob this time.  
"And plan B is?"  
"The Colonel is right dad, what do we do if we get caught?"  
"We'll just have to make sure we don't get caught."  
Teal'c raised his eyebrow but said nothing, and the five of them gathered in the ring transporter with their backs to one another before their Tok'ra companion activated the rings.  
Shelly found herself in what appeared to be a storage room when she heard a mechanical whooshing sound. She turned in surprise as part of her dream returned to her.  
Help is coming.  
She watched the rings appear and deposit five individuals, as though she were watching a scene in a movie she had skimmed over a thousand times. Then she listened to them as they assessed the room.  
"Clear here sir." the woman said.  
"And here."  
"This side is also clear."  
"Yeah, we're clear Jack."  
"Yeah, not so much." This voice belonged to a middle aged man with grey hair who seemed to be in charge. But Shelly was instead staring at the woman.  
"Shelly?" The woman said, kindly. "We've come to help. That's your name isn't it? Shelly?"  
Shelly stared in shock. "Abby?" she blinked. "No. Not Abby. You're older. My god you look just like her."  
"Carter, maybe I should take it from here."  
"I thought it was Abby. Every time it looked just like her, but what if it was you?"  
"In fact, this is the first time you would have encountered Major Carter. What is it you suspect she may have done?" Teal'c said.  
"No. Nothing yet. I mean. She just looks a lot like my friend." Shelly sobered up. They wouldn't understand. I'm not even sure I understand.  
Major Carter nodded. "Can you tell me where she is? Your friend? We need to… speak with her."  
"To be entirely honest she's not really herself today, since she just kidnapped the top twenty students of Winston Salem's music program. But I can't seem to find my way back. It was some sort of throne room I guess…"  
"Okay, we know where that is. Thank you." Colonel O'neill said as he began leading the group to the hall. "Wait here, we'll come back for you."  
"No I'm coming with you."  
"Excuse me? You're just a kid."  
"A kid huh? A kid who managed to get onto an alien spaceship undetected all by herself eight hours before you five managed to find your way here? No. I'm coming."  
Colonel O'neill stared at her for a moment, then looked to Major Carter as if waiting for approval.  
"Sir, I don't think we can stop her. She did make it here undetected after all."  
"Alright, maybe we can use her." O'Neill agreed.  
And with that they made their way to the throne room, slipping out of sight as necessary.  
Kylie saw movement outside of the cage and looked to see Shelly's eyes. She was hidden behind a pillar, and she gestured with her head toward another pillar. Kylie looked and saw some shapes.  
Help? How is that even possible?  
Kylie nudged Jake and gestured with her eyes. He stared blankly.  
"You know, you might be a musical mastermind, but you are damn dense." She said, before pointing at her eyes then over to Shelly.  
"Well what good will that do us? She'll just get caught li-" Kylie slapped her hand over his mouth and gave him a significant look before glancing back toward the guards. They hadn't noticed.  
"Just keep an eye out." she whispered rolling her eyes.  
Shelly watched as the team she followed made their move. They made quick work of the guards as they popped out of their hiding and began firing some weird electrical weapons. Shelly then rushed to the gate of the cage her friends had been placed in and began trying to open it. It was a strange design, and there did not appear to be any sort of lock or handle.  
The man with glasses - Daniel he said his name was - rushed over to assist her. He examined the door then began searching the fallen guards for - she presumed - a key. That's when she heard a strange mechanical laugh come from Abby.  
"You think I would leave the key with a mere Jaffa? No. You will have to kill me to retrieve it."  
"What makes you think we won't?" asked O'neill.  
"Because this body is too important." Then her voice changed back to normal. "Dad, Sam, save me." Abby looked as though she was mocking them.  
I told you she would come.  
And I told you I would kill her. So I suppose we shall both keep our promises.  
No. I don't think you have it in you. See, I have been in here for this whole long journey. You got so used to our conversations, you didn't even realize it, but you forgot to shut me out. I've seen the way you protect the humans you sell, never to a cruel system lord, and always with the guarantee they will sell them back before killing them. You think of them as pets.  
"You don't know what you're talking about." Aabit said seemingly out of the blue.  
"Sir, she looks distracted." Carter said  
"Yeah, you see if you can slip around behind her, I'll distract her. The rest of you, cover the doors." O'Neill responded.  
The four of them nodded to him, and as Carter moved toward the rear of the throne, O'Neill began sauntering into the middle of the room.  
"So, a bit. You come here often?" Her eyes focused on O'Neill as he sauntered towards her.  
"You think I can be defeated so easily?" She rose from her throne, grabbed Major Carter by the throat and lifted her into the air. Carter began to pull at the fingers around her neck as Aabit pulled her sidearm from its holster and threw her onto O'neill. The two went down in a tangle as Carter gasped for air.  
"Okay so that didn't work." O'Neill grunted, helping Carter into a sitting position. They looked up to see Aabit advancing on them, and O'neill grabbed his Zat and began firing. An orange glow surrounded her and he muttered a frustrated "crap." as he began reaching for his knife.  
Shelly watched the scene unfold, and saw the man who introduced himself as Teal'c began to move behind Abby. Then she saw abby lift the Major's pistol, and without thinking, she reacted. Next thing she knew, she was between Major carter and Abby. She heard the shot, felt it hit her in the stomach. Then she tasted the gunpowder, only this time she didn't wake up. Instead she fell back into Major Carter's outstretched arm as she watched a mixture of shock and horror color Abby's face.  
"No. How did you get on this ship?" It was as though Abby only just noticed her roommate. Shelly gasped as her mind registered the pain, and watched as Teal'c quickly wrestled her friend and roommate to the ground.


	18. What I Never Did Is Done

And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom, I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger

"Carter, are you okay?" O'Neill asked as he rose to asses the situation.  
"I'm fine sir, but Shelly doesn't look good. She needs medical attention now."  
"Daniel, grab the key from teal'c, get those kids out of there. Jake, can you get your man to move into place so we can use these rings?"  
"I've already made the order Jack, he's ready and waiting."  
It was then Aabit seemed to snap back into reality. She did not fight Teal'c, but instead began scolding Shelly. "You stupid child! Why? Why did you do that? You don't even know how rare your kind are!"  
"The hell is she going on about?" O'Neill asked. "Teal'c, shut her up. We don't need to alert her troops.  
Teal'c nodded, then silently knocked her over the head, causing her to lose consciousness.  
Daniel unlocked the cage and began leading the college students to the transporter ring as Teal'c threw Aabit over his shoulder and moved into place. "I will restrain her once we arrive on the Tok'ra vessel."  
"Good." said O'Neill. "Daniel, take Shelly with you. Carter, Jake and I will send the rest through from this side.  
Shelly could feel herself fading. They had taken her to another ship and Kylie was kneeling at her side, holding her hand. The man who was waiting for them in the ship brought her a blanket, but it didn't seem to help.  
"Kylie." Shelly said, looking over at Abby's unconscious figure. "I don't think she was ever Abby. I think it was all an act."  
"A damn good act if you ask me."  
"Promise me something."  
"Anything babe."  
"When you get back.. Tell my parents I love them. Tell them I'm sorry for being reckless."  
"Shelly don't talk like that, we'll get you back. You're going to be fine."  
"Sorry Kylie, not this time." Shelly coughed a bit. "But don't worry. I think I'm going to like where I'm going."  
Daniel was helping to move students out of the transporter when he heard someone cry out. He turned to see a girl crying as she knelt over Shelly's now lifeless body. He began to move towards them then froze in shock as her body turned to light.  
"Ohma." Daniel gasped.  
The transporter rings activated and left Sam, Jack, and Jacob along with the remaining three students. All froze as they watched Shelly's new form leave the ship.  
Sam walked into the room, taking in her sister for the first time in almost 20 years. "Dalia?"  
"Sam!" She leapt up and wrapped her arms around Samantha's neck.  
"Dad tells me you have volunteered to become host to a Tok'ra."  
"I know it sounds weird Sam, but I've been living with a voice in my head for almost two decades. I… I'm a little lonely without Aabit. Although I enjoy having control over my body again."  
"I honestly don't understand, but if it's what you want, I support it. Did she… talk to you?"  
"Yeah actually, she said she enjoyed my company. This might sound… weird. But I don't believe she was entirely evil. In all the time she possessed me, you were the first human she tried to kill. And I feel like that was almost out of jealousy. She knew she could never replace my little sister."  
"So… What about the whole… Shelly thing?" Colonel O'Neill's voice came from the doorway.  
"Sir! I'd like you to meet my sister, Dalia Carter."  
"It's an honor Dalia."  
"The honor is mine." Dalia smiled. "As for Shelly. She was a muse. They are very rare."  
"A muse?" O'Neill responded with a confused look on his face.  
"Yes, a muse. It's almost like a superhuman trait. They're more in tune to certain things, and tend to attract a certain talent. For example, Shelly was more in tune with the vibrations of the world. It not only enabled her to become the incredible musician she was, but also gave her the ability to sense things in people. Almost like an intuition."  
"Vibrations gave her intuition?" Disbelieve covered the colonel's face.  
"Well Sir, every movement or sound causes vibrations. If someone is extremely sensitive to those vibrations, it is possible they could sense things as they were in occurrence."  
"Well that doesn't explain why old a bit was so upset she killed her."  
"Aabit intended to keep her as a pet. Once she had sold off the humans she had abducted, she planned to return to earth and hide among the people. Shely was supposed to be at work that morning. If she had not returned from her shift early, Aabit would have been able to return and comfort Shelly over the loss of her friends, then live among the people for many years before anyone noticed she wasn't aging.  
"So she was crazy." O'Neill stated.  
"More like lonely." Dalia responded.  
Fin.


End file.
